Taiwan's economic ministry said on Monday that said Taipower has applied to raise electricity prices by mid-May in response to a surge in global crude prices this year.

State-run Taipower's proposal to drastically hike electricity prices was blocked yesterday in a meeting arranged by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, giving a brief respite for households and companies.

With Indian receiving $10.2 billion investments in clean energy, the country has emerged as one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, an eminent American non-profit organisation said in a report.

BrightSource Energy, the California solar thermal power plant builder backed by Google, NRG Energy, Morgan Stanley and other heavy-hitters, abruptly pulled its initial public offering on the eve of its planned debut Thursday, citing "adverse market conditions."

Although only 2% growth was registered in the worldwide semiconductor market in 2011, several companies posted results that were far different, according to IC Insights.

The global semiconductor materials market increased 7% in 2011 compared to 2010, with record revenues in 2011 of US$47.86 billion.

Creeannounces a breakthrough innovation in street lighting with the introduction of the XSP Series LED Street Light -- the most affordable and efficient Cree簧 LED street light designed to speed payback to municipalities. Using nearly 50 percent less energy and designed to last over three times longer than wasteful, traditional high-pressure sodium street lighting, the XSP Series can double the lumens per dollar compared to previous generations of Cree LED street lights and is the ideal choice for cities and municipalities looking to save money

LED-lamp maker Leadray Energy Co., Ltd., partly held by Ritek Inc. and Nien Hsing Textile Co., Ltd., has recently unveiled a factory in Miaoli, northern Taiwan, completely outfitted with in-house-made LED lamps.

Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials. The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages.

Facebook has announced plans to acquire Instagram, a photo-sharing app for mobile devices, for approximately US$1 billion.

China returned to an export-led trade surplus of $5.35 billion in March, heralding the prospect that a rebound in the global economy is lifting overseas orders just in time to compensate for a slowdown in domestic demand

Lighting manufacturer Cree Inc. says it has halved the cost of its light-emitting-diode streetlights and hopes the new lower prices will sway local governments to adopt the new technology.

Sony Corp flagged a record $6.4 billion annual net loss, double its earlier forecast and a fourth straight year of red ink, inflated by writing off deferred tax credits mainly in the United States.

Private equity firms TPG Capital LP and China's Hony Capital are to bid jointly for Elpida Memory, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, joining an increasingly international battle for the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker.

New York City has tripled its production of solar power by completing the installation of panels on 10 city-owned buildings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has unveiled a new plant in the mountains of central Taiwan - not to make computer chips, but tea.

The output of Taiwan's light emitting diode (LED) streetlight manufacturing sector is expected to reach as much as NT$34 billion (US$1.15 billion) by 2018, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Tuesday.

Elemental LED, a San Francisco Bay Area-based LED lighting company, recently released light wood and dark wood finish options on its popular dimmable LED puck light. The under cabinet lighting fixture is now available in 5 finish options: brushed aluminum, copper, black, light wood and dark wood.

Sony plans to reduce its workforce by an estimated 10,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global staff, as part of new Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai's restructuring plan, people familiar with the matter said Monday.

Denmark has announced that by the end of this decade, it will produce a third of its energy from renewable sources - wind power, in particular, but also solar power and the burning of "biomass."

While Lextar Electronics Corp. estimates its production will run at full capacity by end of the second quarter at the earliest and Genesis Photonics Inc. has been inundated with orders this month, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Epistar Inc. say their capacity utilization rates are ramping up towards 100%.

Lextar Electronics Corp., an LED subsidiary of LCD maker AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), will target Europe, North America and Japan with the LED bulbs it recently rolled out as direct replacements for 40W and 75W incandescent bulbs.

Korean panel makers launched new LED TVs in 2012, which stimulated the demand and in turn increased LED companies' utilization rates. As a result, LED makers' revenues rebounded by 15%-20% compared to January.

Samsung Electronics has said it expects its profit for the first three months of 2012 to almost double as its smartphone sales continue to grow. While Samsung's phone unit has prospered, other divisions, including memory chip manufacturing, have been going through a tough time.

UMC has certified Synopsys' StarRC parasitic extraction solution for its latest 28nm process technologies, according to the EDA and IP vendor.

Research In Motion has been accused of infringing six patents owned by NXP in a lawsuit filed in a US federal court in Florida.

OCZ Technology has introduced the Vertex 4 SATA3 SSD series featuring the company's advanced Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform.

ARM said Tuesday that it would set up a joint venture with Gemalto, plus Giesecke & Devrient to develop secure software that could be used for mobile devices.

In terms of LED PC monitor sales during Q4 2011, LG continued to be in the top spot with a 31 per cent market share. Samsung replaced Acer in second place, while AOC maintained its position at the fourth spot

LED Engin is to reveal details of an LED that dims like a halogen bulb, reddening as its output drops, at Light+Building in Frankfurt